This invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of raspberry plant that has been given the cultivar name or denomination `Godiva`. The new cultivar was developed from hydridization of the selection C96.7 (an unpatented proprietary cultivar) as the seed parent with the selection F167.1 (an unpatented proprietary cultivar) as the pollen parent. The parents were crossed by Carlos Fear in June 1989, whereafter fruit and seed were collected to produce seedlings for field planting in Watsonville, Calif. in January 1990. The new cultivar was selected from these seedlings by Carlos Fear in October 1990 for its distinguishing fruit firmness, good flavor and distinguishing yellow color. Since its selection, the `Godiva` cultivar has been asexually propagated by in vitro shoot tip culture, root sucker division and root cuttings, and has been shown to maintain the desired and distinguishing characteristics after propagation over several generations.
`Godiva`, a yellow raspberry, produces a primocane crop which begins in August and continues until early November. The floricane crop begins in about mid May and continues until about July. Both the primocane and floricane yields (about 5.9 to 8.6 T/acre and about 8.6 to 12.5 T/acre, respectively) are high relative to other comparable cultivars. The fruit of the `Godiva` raspberry plant is medium to large in size and remains consistently so throughout its harvest period. The fruit of `Godiva` is normally light yellow in color when harvested but attains a deeper yellow color after harvest or when fully mature.